EU customs reform: what changes now and what in 2028

TUESDAY, 22 SEPTEMBER 2026

The regulation has been in force since Saturday, but the EU Customs Authority starts in 2027 and the Data Hub becomes mandatory for everyone only in 2034.

The EU customs reform has entered into force: Regulation (EU) 2026/2108 was published in the Official Journal of Saturday 19 September, applies from the day after publication and is being implemented in stages starting today. It is the broadest overhaul of the customs union since 1968, was proposed by the Commission in 2023 and was adopted by Parliament and Council on 16 September. The part that really concerns importers, however, does not all start at once.

The dates that matter

On the Commission's official calendar the deadlines are spread across eight years, and the distance between the first and the last is the most important figure in the whole story. Law firms that have read the text also point out that most provisions will apply twelve months after entry into force, so in the autumn of 2027, while the rules on import distance sales are expected as early as 1 November 2026.

• 1 July 2026: the temporary 3-euro duty per item on consignments up to 150 euro is already in force, with the exemption abolished; it will last until 1 July 2028.
• By 1 November 2026: the Union handling fee on small parcels arrives, with its amount set by the Commission in a delegated act and calculated on the cost of customs supervision.
• 2027: the EU Customs Authority is established in Lille, around 285 staff, with some activities starting.
• 1 July 2028: use of the EU Customs Data Hub becomes mandatory for e-commerce; from 2031 access is voluntary for everyone else.
• 1 March 2034: the Hub becomes mandatory for all businesses importing into the Union.

What the EU customs reform asks of importers

The technical core is the EU Customs Data Hub: a single interface for declarations, replacing the national IT systems that today number twenty-seven. The stated aim is to have data submitted once, to give authorities a complete view of the supply chain and to gradually replace Member States' systems; the Commission estimates the latter will save over 2 billion euro a year in operating costs.

For reliable companies there is the new Trust and Check status, with simplified procedures, fewer controls and the option to release goods on behalf of customs. This is the part that matters to anyone importing continuously: the advantage will no longer be merely reputational, it will be a difference in clearance times. But it requires orderly, traceable data, and that is built beforehand, not when the application is filed.

Platforms become importers for distance sales

On e-commerce the change is about liability, not rates. Under the new rules duty and compliance no longer fall on the consumer buying online: the platforms, sellers or carriers involved in the transaction answer for them, and non-EU platforms become importers for distance sales. For the most serious cases of non-compliance the European Parliament has pointed to fines of up to 6% of the previous year's import value, alongside the loss of certain customs privileges and possible access restrictions.

The reason sits in a figure the Commission put at the top of the file: in 2025 some 5.9 billion low-value e-commerce items entered the Union, four times the 2022 volume. That number measures imported parcels, not fraud or non-compliant goods: it says how much material customs must handle, which is enough on its own to explain the reform.

What it means for importers today

Three things are operational right now and deserve attention. First: the 3 euro per item on consignments up to 150 euro runs until 1 July 2028, after which ordinary duties return with the Hub fully operational, so anyone who built a landed cost on the flat charge will have to rebuild it. Second: by 1 November the European handling fee arrives, on top of the duty, and in Italy it meets the national small parcels tax postponed to 30 November.

The third concerns those not established in the Union. When the importer is not European, customs obligations pass to the indirect customs representative, who is jointly liable: it is worth knowing today who signs in that box for your shipments, and on what terms, because it is a position usually discovered when an assessment arrives.

What the reform does not do yet

In force does not mean applied. The regulation has existed since Saturday, but the Authority is set up in 2027, the Hub becomes mandatory for e-commerce in 2028 and for everyone else in 2034: anyone promising a working single window today is describing the destination, not the journey. In the meantime the national systems stay in place, with their own rules and their own timings.

The practical advice is to read these dates as a work calendar rather than an announcement: each deadline corresponds to data that somebody will have to produce, and the quality of that data is the only part that depends on the importer.

With La Merce, companies buying in China know in advance which tariff heading applies to their product and how much the landed cost will change after 1 July 2028, when the 3 euro per item gives way to the full duty.

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